Why Neoclassical artists were rebels?

Rebels of a new generation

Neoclassical painters rebelled against Rococo art because it epitomized what was wrong with a formerly great nation. Rococo art represented the aristocratic extravagances of the pre-revolutionary society under Louis XV. Its shallow subject matter showed flirty women and frolicsome men, cherubs and cupids, mythological scenes, and carefree people with a hedonistic attitude. It was almost sinful and certainly lustful. Neoclassical artists rejected the Rococo superficial beauty and aristocratic frivolity. If Rococo art was aimed at the French aristocracy, then Neoclassical art was aimed at the masses on the verge of revolting against the aristocracy.

If Rococo style represented a decadent culture, then Neoclassical subject matter was art with a moral character. Unlike the Rococo art movement, the purpose of art was no longer decorative but to inspire values while yearning towards the greatness of Greco-Roman cultures. Art had a political role to play. As a sign that flamboyance had given way to solemnity, clarity and order, the serpentine and curvilinear motifs of the Rococo style were replaced by the Neoclassical symmetrical and rectilinear ones.